500 



The Ohio Naturalist. 



[Vol. VI, No. 6, 



Such shrubby plants as Rhus glabra, Rubus nigrobaccns and 

 R. procnmbens with lichens and xerophytic mosses, are also 

 always to be found here. 



The slopes of the old ravines in which sufficient humus has 

 collected, are clothed with a mesophytic growth of usually not 

 very large trees, chiefly oaks, with a luxuriant shrubby and her- 

 baceous undergrowth. In the more open ravines this herbaceous 

 undergrowth is decidedly vernal, whereas in the narrower and 

 deeper ravines, which are much more shady and moist, it con- 

 sists mostly of ferns, and of these, Dryopteris marginalis is by 

 far the most common. Here too, the beech takes the place of 

 the oak, as it does at the base of the more open ravines. 



The following are some of the commoner plants found in 

 this mesophytic forest area: 



Trees. 



Juglans cinerea L. 

 Carpinus caroliniana Walt. 

 Ostrya Virginiana (Mill.) 

 Fagus Americana L. 

 Quercus rubra L. 

 Quercus velutina Lam. 

 Quercus coccinea Wang. 

 Quercus alba L. 

 Quercus acuminata (Michx.) 

 Amelanchier Canadensis (L.) 

 Prunus serotina Ehrh. 

 Aesculus glabra Willd. 

 Acer rubrum L. 

 Tilia Americana L. 

 Fraxinus Americana L. 

 Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. 

 Cornus florida L. 

 Cornus alternifolia L. f. 

 Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. 



Shrubs. 



Ribes Cynosbati L. 

 Hamamelis Virginiana L. 

 Euonymus obovatus Nutt. 

 Staphylea trifoliata L. 



Herbs. 



Adiantum pedatum L. 

 Dryopteris marginalis (L.) 



It was interesting to watch the destruction of this meso- 

 phytic flora and the transition through the various stages of 

 xerophytic life back to the mesophytic stage again. When a 

 ravine has found its lowest level it begins to widen, a process 

 which takes place very rapidly when a slight shifting of the cur- 

 rent turns the streams against one of the soft shale banks for, 

 as the shale is very brittle, a slight undermining causes it to break 

 and slide. This strips the forest of its entire undergrowth; the 



Dryopteris spinulosa (Retz.) 

 Filix fragilis (L.) 

 Filix bulbifera (L.) 

 Arisaema triphyllum (L.) 

 Carex albursina Sheldon 

 Carex Pennsylvanica Lam. 

 Unifolium Canadense (Desf.) 

 Salimonia biflora (Walt.) 

 Actaea alba (L.) 

 Hepatica acuta (Pursh). 

 Hepatica Hepatica (L.) 

 Syndesmon thalictroides (L.) 

 Thalictrum dioicum (L.) 

 Caulophyllum thalictroides (L.) 

 Sanguinaria Canadensis L. 

 Bicucula cucularia (L.) 

 Arabis laevigata (Muhl.) 

 Heuchera Americana L. 

 Aralia racemosa L. 

 Washingtonia Claytoni (Michx.) 

 Washingtonia longistylis (Torr.) 

 Mitella diphylla L. 

 Mitchella repens L. 

 Galium concinnum T. & G. 

 Nabalus altissiinus (L.) 

 Solidago caesia L. 

 Solidago flexicaulis L. 

 Aster cordifolius L. 

 Polyinnia Canadensis L. 

 Senecio obovatus Muhl. 



